In e-commerce, speed and accuracy of customer service are critical. If a customer can't find answers or a suitable product quickly, they will most likely move on to a competitor's page. It is to solve this problem that my WordPress plugin was born: AI Chat Assistant for WooCommerce – a chat assistant based on artificial intelligence (AI), which helps e-store visitors navigate and make decisions faster. It is also possible to reduce company costs through automation.
Why did I make this plugin?
The plugin is done. for educational purposesto get a real-world experience of what it takes to build a full-fledged AI-based chat assistant and what features it should include. The plugin was created with the help of AI.
WooCommerce e-commerce stores on WordPress are very common, but the built-in customer support is limited. Integrating live chat often requires a third-party service, which can be expensive, complicated, or not intelligent enough. I wanted to create a plugin that:
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Works seamlessly with WooCommerce.
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Uses OpenAI GPT-4.1-nano model to explain product information and purchase terms.
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It is easily customizable.
It is also possible to simply use AI as a conversational assistant that can respond to information provided by the company.
What does the plugin do?
🔍 Product search and comparison
The assistant helps the customer find suitable products and can describe and compare them according to the question. Product information is retrieved directly from the WooCommerce REST API and presented to GPT in the form of context.
💬 Live chat
The assistant can answer questions like:
“What phones are on sale?” or “How is the return?”
The answers are friendly, logical, and structured – for example, a summary of the return policy or an HTML product card with an image and a buy button.
⚙️ Admin panel and customization
The plugin has a convenient admin interface where you can:
Manage OpenAI and WooCommerce API keys.
Change the chat style and system prompt.
Specify shipping/return information.
View chat logs by date and IP.
Customize the appearance of the chat button (colors, fonts, texts, etc.).
Technical structure
The plugin consists of a clear folder structure:
admin/– settings and log viewer.includes/– GPT connection, REST API handlers, product comparison, etc.public/– JavaScript and CSS for the chat window.languages/– translation files for international use.
All API keys are hidden on the server and the REST API is secured with a nonce.
Lessons learned from this project
This plugin was of significant importance to me – I was able to practice several important skills at once:
OpenAI integration with WordPress
– I learned how to structure GPT queries effectively and avoid redundant context. Also, how the language model understands whether to look at information from a given set of knowledge or use its own logical thinking.API security and usage
– Experience in creating nonces, AJAX requests, and REST endpoints.Modular structure planning
– Logical separation of files and functionality (admin, includes, public).UX/UI and conversational logic
– How to create a user-friendly and seamless chat experience that also works well on mobile.Scaling challenges
– If there are thousands of products, GPT input must be optimized to be concise and accurate.
Bottlenecks and improvement ideas
Requires an OpenAI API key, which has a small cost. If you choose the right model, the cost is minimal.
Product filtering is currently simple – it is possible to add AI-based category recognition.
Possibility to add an additional shopping cart feature.
- For large-scale e-shops, the logic that passes the query to the language model must be redesigned.
Who is the plugin suitable for?
Small e-shops that lack 24/7 customer support.
WooCommerce users who want to integrate a smart and customizable AI assistant.
Small and medium-sized businesses that don't have the resources for a human-answered live chat but want to provide a high-quality customer experience.
Summary
Building this AI-based chat assistant was a huge learning experience for me – from understanding the API to developing a user-friendly WordPress interface. It also made me realize that for large-scale e-commerce stores with thousands of products, a completely different product structure is needed.
I hope that the experience of building AI Chat Assistant for WooCommerce will help create more better AI-based systems.
If you have any questions, feel free to contact us!
